CALIFORNIA REALTORS OPPOSE COSTLY POINT-OF-SALE MANDATE
INDUSTRY NEWS, REAL ESTATE LEGISLATION, REAL ESTATE PRACTICE, SHASTA COUNTY, TIPS FOR BUYERS, TIPS FOR SELLERS, TIPS FOR SENIORS
August 6th, 2008
Assembly Bill 2204 (De La Torre) would require county lawyers to review every deed and other title 
documents including C,C,&R’s, and remove illegal, obsolete and unenforceable restrictions from title records before a property could be transferred. This review process would be costly and time consuming and county recorders would have to charge a huge fee to pay for this legal work. The California Association of Realtors (C.A.R.) estimates AB 2204 would tack on $500-$1000 in additional recording fees that would be passed on to the buyer. C.A.R opposes this bill for the following reasons:
- Current law already protects buyers and renters from discrimination. Existing mechanisms already deal with this issue effectively.
- Home buyers face the burden of paying the additional cost to implement this law when they can least afford it.
- Counties will be forced to hire additional lawyers to handle the massive workload this bill creates. L.A. County estimates they will need at least 27 new lawyers to examine 17,000 transactions monthly. Most transactions have multiple documents such as deeds and C,C&R’s in a chain of title that must be reviewed.
- History is erased by“sanitizing” these records instead of leaving them in place as a reminder of mistakes made by society in the past.
- No legal benefit will be derived from altering the permanent record but could divert the buyers attention away from a lengthy list of critical disclosures. This distraction is an additional burden to the buyer.
Existing law already invalidates any provision in a deed to real property that restricts the right of a person to sell,lease,rent,use, or occupy a property based on race, color, religion, sex, marital status, national orgin, ancestry, familial status, disability, source of income, or sexual orientation.
Historically, C.A.R opposes point-of-sale mandates because they unfairly punish individuals that choose to sell a property instead of making all property owners abide by the legislative mandate. Please call me if you have questions on this bill or any real estate matter. My contact information follows:
530-224-6767 or 530-941-7492
BRAD GARBUTT
REALTOR/BROKER
REAL ESTATE PROFESSIONALS GMAC
TWENTY FIVE YEARS REAL ESTATE EXPERIENCE
Thanks for bringing such an important issue to the forefront, Brad. The staggering cost of “re-writing” history would obviously be borne by the consumers, and have a detrimental impact on our already beleaguered Real Estate Industry.